Saturday Night Live is the only late night sketch series that is broadcast live on network television, with each episode put together in just a week to ensure that it’s as topical and relevant as possible. This is especially important for the one constant segment that accompanies every episode of Saturday Night Live, and that’s Weekend Update. Now the news satire segment of SNL will get even more time to skewer the headlines.

NBC has ordered four episodes of Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update, a 30-minute spin-off that has occasionally been ordered to air on Thursdays. Find out more about the Saturday Night Live Weekend Update series return after the jump. Read More »

This weekend, Scarlett Johansson hosted Saturday Night Live, which allowed her to join the prestigious Five Timers Club, a rare honor for hosts of the iconic late night sketch series. Last night’s episode proved why Scarlett Johansson has joined the exclusive club, as she can throw herself into a goofy character, but also has no problem being an anchor in a sketch as the straight-woman, delivering the dialogue that doesn’t have the punchlines. Overall, this was a pretty good episode.

Below, we run through the best and worst sketches of the Scarlett Johansson hosted Saturday Night Live. Read More »

(Welcome to The Soapbox, the space where we get loud, feisty, and opinionated about something that makes us very happy…or fills us with indescribable rage. In this edition: how should Saturday Night Live deal with Donald Trump if Alex Baldwin leaves the part?)

Saturday Night Live has garnered plenty of attention lately thanks to their skewering of Donald Trump and his incompetent administration in the White House. During the campaign season last year, when it was almost inconceivable that the former reality TV show host could win the presidency, SNL brought in Alec Baldwin to play the president, an inspired piece of stunt casting. Surely Lorne Michaels wasn’t anticipating that they would have to bring back Alec Baldwin once Trump actually won, but here we are. However, that might not last much longer.

In a recent interview, Alec Baldwin made an off the cuff remark indicating that he might not be playing Donald Trump for Saturday Night Live much longer. Let’s talk about what that could mean for the show. Read More »

Saturday Night Live came back this weekend for their first episode of March. Hosting duties fell upon the shoulders of Oscar winner Octavia Spencer. While the actress appeared to be up to the challenge, the writing staff didn’t really seem to meet her in the middle. The result was a mostly mediocre episode with some bumpy and poorly paced sketches. The only exceptions were a couple of pre-recorded sketches, one great live sketch, and an outstanding round of Weekend Update.

We run through the best and worst sketches from the Octavia Spencer hosted Saturday Night Live. Read More »

Alec Baldwin hosted Saturday Night Live for the 17th time this weekend, setting a record for hosting the most times, even more than Steve Martin. There was a lot of hype for this episode, mainly because people thought SNL would really tear into Donald Trump’s administration even more than they have been recently. The late night sketch series didn’t really do anything out of the ordinary to react to the hype, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great show.

Even though Rosie O’Donnell wasn’t brought in as Steve Bannon, as many hoped she would, Melissa McCarthy returned as White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, and Kate McKinnon added another political impression to her growing roster as well. Of course, Alec Baldwin reprised his role as Donald Trump, but another cast member also played the president in another fantastic sketch as well. You’ll see what I mean in our recap of the best and worst sketches from last night’s show. Read More »

Last weekend, everyone was talking about Saturday Night Live. The latest episode hosted by Kristen Stewart featured a sketch (the best of the night) which brought in Melissa McCarthy to play White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer in a raucously hilarious sketch that pissed off plenty of people in the Trump Administration. And it sounds like this upcoming weekend’s new episode will have something special in store as well.

Alec Baldwin has been popping up on Saturday Night Live intermittently to play Donald Trump, the controversial President of the United States, but this weekend he’ll also be hosting the show. This will be his 17th time as host of SNL, setting a new record among all of the repeat hosts. A new promo has been making the rounds featuring Alec Baldwin hyping up his appearance, and apparently it’s going to be “a big deal.” Read More »

Saturday Night Live‘s Weekend Update could be headed to weekdays. The show is reportedly considering a half-hour spinoff to debut on primetime sometime this fall. The Weekend Update desk has been manned by Colin Jost and Michael Che since 2014, but details are sparse at this time and we don’t have any confirmation on which talents will be involved. Read More »

This weekend, Kristen Stewart hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time, and for those who have been skeptical of her talents, this should help clear the air a bit. Stewart was surprisingly engaging and casual. I was expecting her to be more stiff and less engaged in the sketches, something akin to Casey Affleck’s hosting stint, but she did a solid job with the roles she was given. She was also so relaxed that she dropped an f-bomb right at the end of her monologue by complete accident and was quick enough to make a joke about it in her embarrassment afterwards.

In addition to Kristen Stewart being a solid host, this was just a good episode of SNL, complete with an outstanding guest appearance that no one expected. It ended up being the best sketch of the night, so let’s just get down to it, shall we?

Below, we run through the best and worst sketches from Kristen Stewart’s Saturday Night Live. Read More »

Every weekend that there’s a new episode of Saturday Night Live, we have a recap and review of every sketch from the show from yours truly. However, since I’m currently in Park City, Utah with our own Peter Sciretta and Angie Han covering the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, it just wasn’t possible to make it happen this weekend. But there was still one sketch that we couldn’t resist pointing out.

La La Land has plenty of buzz right now, especially after winning a record-setting number of Golden Globes earlier this month. However, the movie that started off by being endlessly praised is already getting some backlash from those who don’t like it as much as its most passionate supporters and fans. One of those people who didn’t fall for La La Land as hard as people like me was this past weekend’s SNL host Aziz Ansari, and gets a pretty intense police interrogation because of it.

Watch the Saturday Night Live La La Land sketch after the jump. Read More »

This weekend brought the first episode of Saturday Night Live in 2017, and the writers had a tough time coming back from break. Hosted by Felicity Jones, the episode started off strong with the cold open featuring the return of Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump, but then it takes a sharp turn into being more than a rough return for the late night sketch show.

We recount the best and worst sketches from the Felicity Jones hosted Saturday Night Live after the jump. Read More »